Mentoring and Coaching in Early Childhood Education

Michael Gasper, Rosie Walker, Michael Gasper, Rosie Walker

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781350100749
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

This book provides an introduction to the theory and practice of mentoring, coaching and supervision in the context of early childhood education and care. Written by a team of scholars from the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and the USA the book includes a range of annotated case studies to exemplify important issues from around the world. The chapters are organized around four key principles:
· Embedding professional one to one support within the setting
· Maximising performance and professional development
· Self and collaborative reflection for leadership
· Managing and leading change
Topics covered include discussion of the differences and similarities between mentoring, coaching and supervision; management and leadership in early childhood settings; safeguarding and child protection. Alongside the annotated case studies each chapter also includes a summary of key points and questions for further discussion.

Part I

Mentoring and Coaching Theory

Introduction

Mentoring theory originated in Ancient Greek literature where it related to an older, wiser man supporting a less experienced younger one. Coaching is a more modern construct arising from the needs of sporting personalities and those who support, train and encourage them. The chapters in this section take different aspects of mentoring and coaching in a modern context, exploring their similarities and differences and specifically their value to those working in the context of Early Years education.

Common to all the contributions is the importance of Early Years as a foundation for life itself. Current issues around what mentoring and coaching are and how they can help individuals, groups and settings improve the quality of their reflective practice are reflected upon. The examples provide insights into different political and social contexts, while themes in common emerge from practice shared by many, if not all.

Chapter 1 explores what we mean by mentoring and coaching, their similarities and differences and key features of successful mentoring relationships.

Chapter 2 reflects on the value and importance of mentoring and coaching, including how this supports the leadership of integrated practice.

Chapter 3 is based on the work of the Early Learning Initiative (ELI) in the National College of Ireland since 2007. It considers mentoring and coaching in the context of leading improvements in practice to improve quality in Early Years education.

Chapter 4 examines the value and importance of reflective practice in the training and support of coaches and mentors working in the Better Start teams in the context of a government initiative to improve quality of provision in ECEC settings in Ireland.

Chapter 5 raises issues around safeguarding in ECEC practice in England and the role of mentoring and coaching in supporting practitioners, particularly in supervision sessions.

Chapter 6 explores the concept of ‘Pedagogic Mediation’ (Oliviera-Formosinho and Formosinho, 2012). This concerns the potential impact of the ‘outsider’ as a catalyst for positive change.

Chapter 7 draws on research in South Africa and how cognitive coaching can improve teachers’ understanding of child participation and encourage and improve it in a system that is traditionally dominated by curriculum- and teacher-led activity.

Chapter 8 shares the approaches and effects of mentoring, which is an integral part of the learning process used with a group of students working towards their Early Years Teacher Status qualification at the University of Greenwich, England.

Chapter 9 is a reflective overview based on the findings of an assessment of mentoring in Singapore within an improvement framework for Early Childhood educators, where mentor support is mandatory for ‘beginning teachers’, but does not yet extend to those already established and experienced.

Chapter 10 shares perspectives from the USA on the introduction of mentoring and coaching in pre-school settings in supporting increased learning for both teachers and children.

We then step back and reflect on the emerging themes from Part 1 and share the thoughts that these provoke.

1

Theory of Mentoring and Coaching in Early Childhood

Michael Gasper

Chapter Summary

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This chapter examines the origins of mentoring and coaching, their attributes, similarities and differences. How they work in practice and their value and importance to practitioners involved in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practice.

Mentoring and Coaching: Theory in Early Childhood Practice

Mentoring and coaching are approaches to improvement and continuous personal and professional development, recognized as part of current culture and practice in ECEC (McMahon, Dyer and Barker, 2016). Leadership training in these key service areas in England has included both of these approaches as part of senior staff support and development (National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership 2005–2014). The generally low levels of funding for training and support, qualification levels and pay of the workforce have contributed to theory and practice being less part of the everyday culture in Early Childhood, particularly for Early Childhood practitioners, until the last decade. Mentoring and coaching, which existed in ECEC practice before then, relied on the initiatives of individual leaders or organizations. The shift towards a universal improvement in pre-school and ECEC services quality began in the UK as part of Conservative Party policy in the late 1990s with the creation of ‘Action Zones’. It developed momentum under New Labour, with closer working relationships between education, health and social care through initiatives such as Sure Start (1999–2006) and Early Excellence Centres (1997–2006), which merged to become Children’s Centres (1996–).¹ Shared understandings, particularly in terminology, began to emerge between agencies. In the early 2000s mentoring became an integral part of the NPQICL, a qualification for leaders and senior staff in Children’s Centres. Professional cultures learned from each other during this period and the growth in awareness of the value and importance of mentoring and coaching in practice was paralleled by the growth of relevant literature. Nevertheless, there remains a specific need for the continuing development of expertise in mentoring and coaching in Early Childhood practice and for literature specifically focused on this area of provision.²

What are Mentoring and Coaching?

There is no clear, separate definition of mentoring or coaching. They share similarities in approach. Common usage has blurred historical understanding of what each is and developments in practice have increased the practice elements relevant to both (Garvey, Stokes and Megginson, 2014: 31). Megginson and Clutterbuck recognized the shifts that had occurred in approaches to both coaching and mentoring, between their first edition (2005) and the second (2009), with a broadening interpretation of theory and its conversion to practice. Parsloe and Leedham (2009) echo this, referring to the increase in publications between 1990 and 2009. Both sets of authors also recognized a growing awareness of the links with mentoring and coaching and learning theory and therefore with learning and teaching methods. Parsloe and Leedham’s (2009: 11) adoption of the term ‘coach-mentors’ recognizes the importance of understanding the theories and practice, rather than attempting separation by narrow definition.

Different UK services involved in Early Childhood practice place their own emphasis on mentoring and coaching, who might need them and why. In education, a new member of staff may be ‘mentored’ by a more experienced colleague. Techniques borrowed from mentoring and coaching may be used in supervision sessions. There is often, however, a negative connotation arising from the pressures to meet education targets when staff may be provided with mentoring or coaching to improve perceived weaknesses. More enlightened settings may well see the beneficial opportunities that mentoring and coaching can provide³ in building on the positives; in aiming to support individuals or teams as they review and reflect on their work and their perspectives; in assessing progress; in acknowledging successes and considering the challenges; and in improving practice (McMahon et al., 2016: 438). Some supervisees may find security in structure and accountability, but in highly stressful occupations, such as social services, nursing and social care, mentoring and coaching, often in the context of supervision, can provide a ‘safe space’, allowing an individual to step back from the immediacy of stressful situations to acknowledge and review their own emotional state and reclaim a more objective perspective or identify and set aside the raw emotion of the moment. This can be true of approaches to mentoring or coaching and reinforces the importance of shared understanding of the nature, purpose and practice of each. The nature of the relationship and ‘power balance’ between mentor and mentee, coach and coachee is critical to establishing confidence in the process and shifts in control: it builds trust that enables an individual to share successes, recognize uncertainties and begin to explore harder areas. A mentor or coach perceived to be an ‘imposition’ can create an initial barrier that has to be addressed before progress can be made. Mentoring and coaching need not be a hierarchical relationship where the power and control lies with the mentor or coach; it is possible for a colleague in a subordinate position to mentor or coach a senior. While a hierarchical pairing may be supportive as part of a leadership role, it is the antithesis of the shared relationships implicit in the theory of mentoring and coaching. McMahon et al. (2016) suggest that developmental support should also include emotional support, recognizing the stressful nature of Early Childhood professional practice (2016: 439). The approach to practice, therefore, is highly dependent on the prevailing culture of an organization, the style of the organization’s leadership and the purpose for which they are used, all of which will colour the balance and defining detail for each.

In terms of mentoring, Starr proposes that: ‘A mentor is someone who takes on the role of a trusted adviser, supporter, teacher and wise counsel to another person’ (2014: 3), but this could also apply to a coach and is certainly part of many leadership roles. Clutterbuck suggests that the defining feature of mentoring, ‘… is the holistic nature of the mentoring role that distinguishes it from other learning or support roles, such as coaching and counselling’ (2004: 3). But he also quotes a range of definitions (12), each of which is subtly, but importantly, different. The suggestion that it is more important to consider the context, purpose and parameters of the relationship, which will require different strategies and approaches to achieve effective support, is more helpful than attempting a hard and fast definition.

The view of a mentor as an older or wiser person supporting another who is not is based in ancient Greek culture and suggests a hierarchy of knowledge and the passing of knowledge from the ‘knower’ (the mentor) to the ‘not knowing other’ (the mentee). However, even here the definition is blurred by process and practice, for example, with Socrates not providing answers, but asking questions to encourage his listeners to think, reflect and shift towards a better understanding of what they already knew, or towards their own new knowledge, through dialogue, debate and reflection. This approach is still widely used⁴ and could also be argued as being the origin of coaching. This takes us closer to reflecting on the process of learning. Garvey, Stokes and Megginson reflect further on the connections with Greek philosophy (2014: 12), describing Aristotle’s philosophy of learning, the earliest recorded, which involves three aspects:

the practical (as associated with political life); the theoretical (the seeking of truth through thought, observation, consideration and the achievement of knowledge for its own sake); and the productive (making something) … Arguably a mentor may engage the mentee in discussions of the practical, theoretical and the productive in order to develop holistic and all-round wisdom. (2014: 14)

Their detailed historical perspectives on the emergence of a common understanding of mentoring and coaching examine the processes of each as separate disciplines, concluding that there is no single ‘one best way’ in mentoring or coaching ‘and therefore no one definition’ (2014: 31).⁵ Garvey (in Bachkirova, Cox and Clutterbuck, 2014) reflects on ‘mentoring in a coaching world’ (2014: 361–374), providing further historical perspectives on mentoring, supporting the view that definitions are less helpful than reflection on the processes and practices of mentoring and coaching in differing contexts. Garvey quotes Geertz’s (1971) suggestion that ‘thick description’ is more helpful and offers four characteristic features of mentoring that involves: a shared trusting relationship; listening, questioning and associated skills; grounding in the mentee’s perspective, hopes, fears and often linking to transitions; and a shared process of learning and development (2014: 364). I suggest that, in the context of Early Years, the dynamics of all these are important but the first, trust, and last, mutuality, underpin everything else.

Bachkirova, Cox and Clutterbuck (2014) define coaching as: ‘a human development process that involves structured, focused interaction and the use of appropriate strategies, tools and techniques to promote desirable and sustainable change for the benefit of the coachee and potentially for other stakeholders’, and refer to coaching as: ‘a powerful vehicle for increasing performance, achieving results and optimizing personal effectiveness’ (2014: 1).

While there is an emphasis on improvement, this suggests a more specific focus and a more particular structure than mentoring, but with aims that are focused on outcomes while acknowledging personal dimensions. Their book is a rich resource providing a detailed overview of thirteen separate coaching approaches including, inter alia: psycho-dynamic, cognitive behavioural, solution-focused, person-centred, Gestalt and Existential approaches, as well as twenty-five different genres and contexts for coaching. These approaches represent specific areas of psychology that can be applied equally to techniques of mentoring. Understanding what these are, how they work, their relative strengths and limitations and when and with whom to use them (Parsloe and Leedham, 2009: 10) is arguably much more important than attempting to provide narrow definitions which cannot do justice to the practice of mentoring and coaching.

The Underlying Psychology of Mentoring and Coaching

A powerful influence and theoretical grounding for the process and practice of all three is positive...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents 
• Tables and Figures
• Contributors
• Preface
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary and Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part I Mentoring and Coaching Theory
• Part II Appreciative Inquiry: Examples from Practice
• Index
• Imprint